GM regains full control of Opel as trust dissolves

By IBT Staff Reporter On 11/30/09 AT 5:18 PM

BERLIN - General Motors has regained full control over Opel after paying back a 1.5 billion euro emergency loan including interest, dissolving a trust that held a 65 percent stake in the European carmaker.

The shares in Adam Opel GmbH were returned to GM, the German economics ministry said in a statement on Monday.

GM lost majority ownership in Opel in June, when Germany agreed to provide a six-month emergency loan to the Ruesselsheim-based manufacturer of the Insignia hours before GM filed for a pre-packaged bankruptcy.

The trust's main job was to monitor Opel's liquidity needs and oversee the sale of a majority stake to a new investor. GM decided early in November to scrap plans to sell Opel. (Reporting by Gernot Heller, writing by Christiaan Hetzner; Editing by Toni Reinhold)